By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
MENTAL Health Minister Martin Foley has said that careful consideration will be given to a coroner’s findings into a man who killed a work colleague after being released from Casey Hospital’s mental health ward days earlier.
The findings into the 52-year-old Narre Warren victim’s death were released on Monday, prompting his widow to pronounce the “broken” mental health system had let her family down.
The victim’s wife told the News that she had pushed for the inquest because she didn’t want another family to go through the same torment.
“My husband was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person,” she said.
“It could happen to anyone unless we see change.
“Our system is broken and it needs to be fixed.”
In his findings, State Coroner John Olle recommended that acute-care mental health patients should have access to therapeutic recovery units and specialist forensic psychiatrists prior to their release.
Mr Foley said on Wednesday 8 July that “cases like this are always concerning”.
“My department has only just received the coroner’s recommendations and will consider them carefully.”
He said such issues would be considered as the State Government developed its 10-year mental health strategic plan.
On Monday 6 July Mr Olle found the victim had died from multiple injuries and immersion in a home swimming pool in Narre Warren on 25 January 2009.
The victim was pronounced dead in Dandenong Hospital on 2 February – the date of his birthday.
He was described by Mr Olle as a “bloke’s bloke” and a “hands-on father” who enjoyed a drink and loved to fish and cook.
The perpetrator – whose name was omitted in Mr Olle’s report – had an “alcohol dependence disorder” and killed the victim during a mutual weekend drinking session.
Had been released as an involuntary patient from Casey Hospital on 16 January after taking his parents hostage in a seven-hour siege two weeks earlier.
Mr Olle’s inquest focused on the killer’s medical management but he emphasised his role was not to lay blame.
In his report, Mr Olle referred to the man making threats to kill beforehand, his frightened parents intending to take out intervention orders, and his instability and intimidation in the ward.
Two days before the fatal assault, a case manager interviewed the man and judged him to be threatening in manner but not a risk of harm to others, Mr Olle said.
“(His) hallucinations and delusions were still present and real to him.”
Mr Olle said the care by Monash Health staff was “not unreasonable or inappropriate” in the circumstances but “hindsight has revealed poor clinical decisions were made”.
He recommended establishing therapeutic recovery or step-down units for acute-care patients before releasing them into the community.
“In general medicine, it would be unacceptable if a patient was discharged into the community from an intensive care unit.
“Why is it not equally unpalatable in a mental health setting?”
Mr Olle also recommended access to specialist forensic psychiatrists – the absence of which made clinical decision making “extremely difficult” in this case.
“Sadly, there is a marked over-representation of persons who suffer serious mental health illness in the commission of serious crime, including homicide, in Victoria.”
The victim’s wife said she backed the recommendations, though adding that a “severe shortage” of psychiatric beds needed to be solved.
“Budgetary constraints should not stop these (recommendations) from occurring.
“You can’t put a price on a life.
“If this had have been in place my husband would still be alive today and we would still be a happy family unit.”
The perpetrator is serving eight years’ jail for the victim’s manslaughter – although he is eligible for parole this year.
Meanwhile, the victim’s wife is now a single parent bringing up two daughters.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t think of him and miss him.
“We’ve had lots of support from family and friends but we lost someone we loved and who loved us – through a faulty system.
“The system let us down.”
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Ian Haberfield said the department was required to provide a written response within three months of receiving the recommendations.
“The response should include a statement of actions taken, or to be taken, in relation to the recommendations.”
